The Pentagon is ordering most of its approximately 400,000 furloughed civilian employees back to work.

The decision by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is based on a Pentagon legal interpretation of a law called the Pay Our Military Act.

That measure was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama shortly before the partial government shutdown began Tuesday.

The law ensured that members of the military, who have remained at work throughout the shutdown, would be paid on time. It also left room for the Pentagon to keep on the job those civilians who provide support to the military.

Please note that the breaking news was originally posted by don-o, but was removed from news by the AM, because there was no source available on the internet at the time (it was mentioned on TV and apparently Twitter).

BREAKING: Pentagon ordering most of its furloughed civilian employees back to work.
AP via Twitter | October 5, 2013

Good for the DoD employees and good for mitigating Obamadoesn’tcare. Every agency reopened and every employee back at work erodes Obamaâs position. The more he howls, the more the House needs to pass CRs to reopen departments or programs and keep appealing for him to negotiate.

Good for the DoD employees and good for mitigating Obamadoesn’tcare. Every agency reopened and every employee back at work erodes Obamaâs position. The more he howls, the more the House needs to pass CRs to reopen departments or programs and keep appealing for him to negotiate.

The government can’t incur any unauthorized debts. So there’s no money to pay the military and non-furloughed civilians, but they report to work. Furloughed civilians, on the other hand, aren’t allowed to work. Both groups get back pay regardless once funds are restored even though the government isn’t obligated to pay back pay to furloughed civilians.

They’ve promised pay, but they can’t let civilian employees return to work. If they’re going to pay people regardless, then why have ridiculous laws that say those employees can’t work? They already allow excepted employees and the military to continue to work without pay (with the promise to pay them later). Why the distinction? Why not just have the entire DoD report to work in the interest of national defense, especially when they’re all going to get paid regardless???

21
posted on 10/05/2013 1:01:24 PM PDT
by CitizenUSA
(Conservatives are not anarchists!)

I received this news on Wednesday 10/02 in a newsletter from my Congressman (James Lankford).

There is one area where the House, Senate, and President have come to an agreement and passed a bill providing uninterrupted pay for our military and DOD civilians. Our armed forces and civilian support have suffered the most this year during the sequester, and it was essential that they were protected during this government slowdown. But early this morning, I learned that the Department of Defense narrowly interpreted that law to apply only to a small group of civilian defense employees. This ignores the clear language of the House bill that mandates that all military and civilians are protected from the slowdown, including our National Guard and Reserve members serving in active duty status, full-time Guard members, and dual-status technicians. I have sent a letter to Secretary Hagel to ask him to rectify this situation immediately.

” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a surprise announcement on Saturday that he would reinstate almost all of the 400,000 civilian employees of the Defense Department who had been sent home when the government shut down last week. ‘

“Mr. Hagel said most DoD civilians would be exempted from the furloughs and would return to work next week because Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers interpreted a stopgap budget measure signed into law last week by President Obama, which guaranteed pay for service members, to also apply to a larger number of civilian workers.”

They make it sound like they are doing a great thing, when they f**k up. What great guys they are!/s

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